A spokesperson for the company couldn’t confirm what will happen to the Lincoln homes, as the job losses announced are part of an “ongoing process” which will involve talks with unions. They said that currently there are no concrete details on what will happen to individual homes.

Nationally, Southern Cross runs 752 care homes and its 44,000 staff care for 31,000 people. Financial problems, which include struggling to pay its £250 million rent bill, led to the company’s New Horizons programme to “improve operational effectiveness”.

The job cuts have come out of this programme.

In a statement, Jamie Buchan, Chief Executive of Southern Cross, said: “Southern Cross has a strong set of values and a clear vision to serve the care-related needs of elderly people in our society.

“In our announcement we are engaging with colleagues to put in place the best possible staffing model for our future needs, and one which fully embraces the best practice available to us.

“In developing this model during a very challenging time for both our company and the industry we are determined that the process we undertake should be exemplary in terms of staff communication.”